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A leading university Vice Chancellor and three other employees have been suspended pending an investigation.

Professor Richard B Davies has held the top role at Swansea university since 2003, but an email sent to staff yesterday said that during an internal investigation he had been suspended.

The 72-year-old Vice Chancellor earns £252,000 a year and had announced his intention to retire at the end of the current academic year.

It is not yet known what the investigation is looking into, but the enquiries have not yet been completed.

A spokesperson for The Higher Education Funding Council for Wales said: “We can confirm that we are currently engaging with Swansea University in our role as Wales’s higher education regulator, but we cannot discuss any further details about the matter at this time.”

As part of the same investigation, the dean of the school of management, Professor Marc Clement, has also been suspended, as have two other members of staff from the school.

One university insider said: “This came as a complete and utter shock. I have no idea what has happened.”

In an email, staff were told by registrar Andrew Rhodes that it was a “very difficult matter” but that it did not concern "the academic performance of the university or its financial wellbeing".

"The vice-chancellor has been suspended while the investigation is ongoing, as have the dean of the school of management and two other members of staff at the school,” he said.

"Given that this is an ongoing process, it would not be appropriate for me to give any more detail at this stage, but I can assure you that the matters under investigation do not concern the academic performance of the University or its financial wellbeing.

"I would like to reassure you that the senior management team, heads of college, professional services directors of the university and myself are all working closely together to make sure the university continues to thrive and to conclude this very difficult matter."

Prof Davies, who was brought up in west Wales, studied engineering at Cambridge before receiving a PhD from the University of Bristol.

Llanelli-born Prof Clement has held several senior academic positions and was appointed dean of the school of management in 2015.

A university spokeswoman said: "We can confirm that the Vice-Chancellor Professor Richard B Davies and Professor Marc Clement have been suspended, pending the outcome of on an internal investigation.